Advice from the Masters: Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard is a master of crime fiction. Like most successful writers, he’s put together a standard response for all questions that sound like, “What should I do to be a successful writer?” In his case the answer is “Ten Rules of Writing.” He’s even got one rule that sums them all up.

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”

The best writing (outside the literary world) is transparent. If the reader is thinking, “My, what elegant prose,” that reader is not thinking about the story or the point you want to make. Keep it simple and get your ego and your prose style out of the way.